Councillor Sue Jeffrey, Labour Leader of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, today (24th July 2016) spoke out on her fears for the continuation of council services following the EU referendum.
Sue said “In a sense, the referendum result showed that the people of Redcar and Cleveland want change, that they are no longer prepared to put up with job losses, cost of living rises and public services that are being devastated by Government cuts.”
“These, I have to emphasis, are matters not controlled by Europe, but the referendum provided and opportunity to kick the government, and kicked it was.”
“The message to me, and to whoever is going to be the next Prime Minister is simple;. There needs to be a rethink on austerity policies that disadvantage our borough and our communities so badly. Austerity is not working – and many of the victims of austerity are also not working through the application of those policies.”
“This is a really crucial time for the Borough and the wider-Tees Valley. The danger now is that a new Conservative prime Minister will get distracted by the fall-out of this momentous decision. We will not let that happen. There is really important work underway in the Tees Valley and in Redcar and Cleveland to secure a long-term future of the SSi site, create new jobs, build more homes and invest in new road and rail links. Government has made commitments to support the Tees Valley both through the devolution deal and the creation of the Mayoral Development Corporation for South Tees – they should make clear that there is no risk to these crucially important projects”
“Finally, many of the “out” leaders made great play on their promises that cuts to the EU funds coming to the UK will be made up by domestic government grant. This borough, like all the boroughs on Teesside, is a big user of EU structural funds to regenerate the economy and deliver important infrastructure programmes, and Social Funds to assist education and training. These programmes are just too important to be simply wound down at the end of their lives – replacement cash has to come from Whitehall.”